Dark Tower movie casts Vikings star in key role

We’ve been impressed by just about every piece of casting for the long-awaited film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower so far, and this is a tradition that looks set to continue, with Variety announcing that Vikings star Katheryn Winnick has hopped on board the long-awaited book-to-film project.

The exact nature of Winnick’s (who plays Lagertha in the History Channel’s popular TV series) role has been unconfirmed at yet, but there are a number of possibilities: series protagonist Susannah is one. Although she appears in later books in the series (one actually being named after her), judging by some of the casting so far the film seems to be looking beyond solely first instalment The Gunslinger, so he’s definitely a possibility.

Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha in Vikings.

Alternatively, she could be playing an all-new character, or a minor existing one with her role beefed up (like Abbey Lee’s Tirana). Either way, her casting is a massive coup – if you’ve seen her in Vikings then you will know what we’re talking about. With co-star Travis Fimmel soon to be starring in Warcraft, it seems the show is a fertile source of inspiration at the moment.Winnick joins a cast that already includes Idris Elba as Roland ‘The Gunslinger’ Deschain, Matthew McConaughey as the Man In Black, Abbey Lee as Tirana, Jackie Earle Haley as Sayre, Fran Kranz as Pimli and Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers. Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) is directing from a script he co-penned with Akiva Goldsman, Anders Thomas Jensen and Jeff Pinkner. Goldsman is also producing with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Stephen King, with G Mac Brown, Erica Huggins and Jeff Pinkner executive producing.